(a) Field of the invention
This invention relates to an original supply apparatus for use in a copying machine of the type wherein an original on a copying machine, in particular on a contact glass is located on the basis of its one side edge and is transported by a carrier roller.
(b) Description of the Prior Art
As the original supply apparatus for the conventional copying machine there has been employed the one as illustrated in FIG. 1, although not limited thereto.
The original supply apparatus illustrated in FIG. 1 is designed so that an original 2 is received in an original tray 1 and a side guide member 20, located movably in the direction perpendicular to the travelling direction of the original, abuts its one side edge to prevent skewing of the original.
The lowermost one of the originals 2 loaded within this original tray 1 is advanced to be copied first and the other originals are supplied in order onto a contact glass 8 by the aid of a supply belt 3, a separating pad 4, supply rollers 5, 6, 7; those originals are carried on the contact glass 8 by a carrier roller 9 provided on a guide plate 14; the front end of each original abuts a stopper 10 in its ascending position; the original is thus stopped; and copying is carried out as predetermined. After the copying is completed, the stopper 10, at a given termination signal is lowered, and the original carried out from the surface of the contact glass 8 by the carrier roller 9 is returned to the uppermost portion of the originals 2 within the original tray 1 by wastepaper rollers 11, 12, 13.
The above mentioned carrier roller 9 is normally disposed on the contact glass 8, specifically at a stationary position on the center line along the travelling direction of originals.
In case the above mentioned original supply apparatus is used in the copying machine of such a type that the original is carried on the basis of the center line along its travelling direction, as the carrier roller is always in abutment with the center line portion of the original irrespective of the size of the original and an equal delivery force is given either side of the center line of the original, there is no peril that carrying of originals is subject to a particular hindrance.
However, in case the copying machine is of such a type that locating is done on the basis of one side edge of the original and so as to coincide with one side edge of the contact glass, the above mentioned original supply apparatus is disadvantageous in that the carrier roller comes to abut the location eccentric relative to the center line of the original surface depending on the size of the original, and consequently there is caused a difference in the delivery force for the carrier roller between the right and left of the center line of the original and the original becomes skew.
In order to eliminate the above mentioned drawbacks, there is also proposed the conventional original supply apparatus wherein the carrier roller is disposed so that its travelling direction may be angled relative to the center line of the contact glass; one side edge on which the contact glass is based is provided with a side stopper at a right angle to the stopper for stopping the original; and the carrier roller conveys the original in the direction slanting towards the corner portion defined by said stopper and said side stopper.
However, this original supply apparatus is defective in that when the original is thick and stiff there is no particular difficulty encountered, but when the original is thin and lacks stiffness, it is liable to be crumpled and folded.